The Legend of Mana
by Adept of the Angels
Summary: In a world where nothing is as it seems, the most evil of souls lurk. Two innocent children get dragged into the word of deception, and the biggest adventure of their lives unfold before their very eyes. -SUMMERY WILL CHANGE-
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So, I've decided that I wanted to write a story for Sword of Mana. I was real disappointed when I went searching for Sword of Mana stories, but found only two—so I figured I'd write my own. It's a novelization of the game, but it's _way_ different than the actual game. The game has a lot of plotholes story-wise, so I've changed some things, added some, and even removed some, so that it would seem somewhat more realistic. I'll stick as close to the original plot, though, and maybe even add some to it.

The hero's name is Kevin, and the heroine is Abby. I don't know if they have any official names that aren't used in the game, but these are the ones that I always use when playing it. Willy's personality's gonna be completely changed, 'cause I didn't like his character in the game. The hero might be changed to have a more cocky attitude, so that he doesn't seem like too much of a goodie-two-shoes. Everyone else is staying the same, though. Or at least, as close to the same as I can possibly get without making them seem Mary-Sue-ish.

The first few chapters are gonna be awkward, because I need to introduce the characters and explain how _my_ version of the world of Sword of Mana works. I'm gonna twist the Sword of Mana universe so that it makes a tad more sense, but not enough to make it AU.

And one last thing—if there are any other games besides the GameBoy Advance one (you know, the one with Willy, Amanda, Cibba, Vandole, Medusa, etc), I haven't played it yet. This is a story all on its own, and all things that didn't make sense to me, I made up an explanation for.

It's written in first person's POV, and the POV may change between Abby and Kevin.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy this feeble figment of my imagination :D

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Sword of Mana.

...

_Sword of Mana_

Long, long ago, there was a Goddess

She cherished all life and transformed herself into a Mana tree to watch over the world

Thus the legend began

As time passed, memory of the Goddess faded from people's hearts

One day, a man crept into the sanctuary where the Mana tree slumbered

With the power of Mana, he built a great civilization, but this marked the dawn of a terrible darkness . . .

The man forced the world to kneel to his will—his name . . . was Vandole

When souls were trapped into the darkness of despair, a glimmer of hope shone in the hearts of a few brave youths

The fighting was fierce, but they would not give up

One wielded the holy blade that gleamed as brightly as the hope in their hearts

Powerless before this light, the darkness was vanquished

The power of Mana was reclaimed from human hands and restored to its rightful place

But now . . .

The people have forgotten the Goddess once again

Prologue

**Abby**

_No, not this dream again. It's a nightmare! Please don't make me see it again!_

_In the beginning, the world was void—then the Goddess appeared._

_In her left hand she held the Light of Hope and her right, the Sword of Mana._

_The Goddess summoned spirits to assist in the creation of life. _

_Finally, to maintain peace, the Goddess cast away the sacred sword._

_It is said that the sword rusted the moment it left her hand._

_The Goddess then transformed into great tree that would sustain and watch over the world._

_A mystical power guards the sanctuary where the tree stands to this day._

". . . And that's the song of the Mana Clan."

"That was wonderful, Mother!" I cheered in my little girl's voice as my mother finished an old song that told the legend of our town. My mom's name is Elise, and she's one of the minstrels of our village, the Mana Clan. "I almost felt as if I could see the Mana Tree itself!"

Elise laughed at my enthusiastic reaction.

"Oh, you, my little Abby," she said smiling down at me. "Always exaggerating."

The Mana Clan is said to be the secret guardian of the Mana Sanctuary—the magical forest that created life itself—for thousands of years, keeping outsiders and travellers with foul intentions out of the Sanctuary.

Right now, I swayed from side to side and murmured, "That's strange," almost to myself. "Even though that's the first time I've ever heard that song, it sounded so familiar . . ."

Mom watched my face in silence for a few seconds before saying, "You know, there's an even better songstress in the world than me, you know."

I cocked my head to the side and stopped swaying, examining Elise's face closely.

"Really?" I asked, curious. Elise wasn't the only minstrel in our town, but she was definitely the best out of everyone. It would be nearly impossible for me to find someone whose voice could compete with hers. "Do you think I would ever meet her?"

"I'm sure you will. You'll see many great things on your journey, and your old mother would pale in comparison."

"Oh," I said, trying to smile. I knew that she was just kidding, but her simple sentence of reassurance once again reminded me of the journey that lay before me.

I was leaving the Mana Clan, leaving my home for the world. It had been my dream to see the world ever since I was old enough to understand the stories my mother would tell me of her own journey when she had been my age.

And today was the day that I would be leaving, with an old friend my mother claimed to know back when she had been out to see the world for herself.

"Goody," I sighed. My eyes dropped to the beautiful green grass beneath us, not feeling as excited as I should have been.

"Oh, come on, honey. No more sad faces, okay?" Elise said, trying unsuccessfully to cheer me up. "You know I'm not one for long goodbyes."

I sniffled, trying with all my might to keep from crying.

"Mother, I'm really going to miss you." I tried to blink the tears in my eyes away—but, instead of disappearing to wherever they had come from, they fell down the brim of my eyes and flowed uncontrollably down my cheeks. Traitors.

Elise watched me for a second, seeming to think something through. Then she reached behind her and unclipped the necklace around her neck. She brought her hands back to the front again, bringing the chain of the necklace with her, and held the silver pendant out to me.

"As long as you wear this," she whispered, "I'll always be with you."

My eyes widened. "No, Mom, I can't . . . You can't give that to me!" I tried to protest. "It's all you have left of grandma. I can't—"

"And now it's yours," she said, cutting me off. She gently nudged my shoulder so that I could turn around. She collected my long, dark brown hair and threw it over my shoulder so that she could clip the glimmering silver chain around my neck.

I turned back when she was done and looked at her with teary eyes.

"Never take it off," she said seriously, looking me straight in the eye.

I nodded helplessly at her. "Never," I agreed.

She pulled me closer into a hug and whispered, "Take care of yourself," in my ear.

"I'd rather just stay here another year or two."

As soon as I said it, I realized that it was exactly what I wanted to do: Postpone my dream for staying here another year in exchange.

I pulled back so that I could see Elise's reaction. She didn't say anything.

"I mean," I said quickly, "I sure will miss everyone . . . and I really like it here. But . . . if I go out into the world . . ." I hesitated, not sure what else to say. "I don't know. I guess I'm just afraid of what I might find there."

"Sweetie," Mom started, brushing a stray strand of hair out of my face. "The world out there is a big place, and it might get scary and overwhelming—but if you stay here, you'll always wonder what _could have been_. The things that you don't do in life are the things that'll haunt you the most. It might get terrifying, but after the first leap of faith, you'll find that you enjoy the unknown more than you might fear it."

I looked down to the grass again, not wanting to meet my mom's wise, knowing eyes.

"I guess . . . But what if I _don't_ like it?"

"You will," Mom answered. "You'll understand it all soon enough." She reached down to the bag that lay motionless at my feet and gave it to me. "Now, go say your goodbyes to everyone. I'm sure Sir Bogard will be here any minute now."

"Okay," I said. "But promise me you'll be here when I come back."

"Well, it depends . . ."

My eyes widened and my resolve wavered. "_On what_?"

"Enough talking," Erika said quickly, pulling me into another hug. "You should go say goodbye to everyone."

I stared at her for a half minute before sighing.

"I guess you're right. Thanks for everything, Mom." The tears came back to my eyes again. "I sure will miss you."

"I'll miss you, too, sweetie." She kissed the top of my head. "Now, go. Enjoy your trip."

"I will. I love you."

I turned and walked away before I could stop myself again. As I walked, I could hear the wind carry Mom's soft_ I love you, too_ over the distance to swirl around my ears.

I wiped the tears off of my face with the short sleeves of my T-shirt as I headed down the narrow path toward my best friend's house, waving at the people I passed on my way.

When I was within shouting distance of Willy's house, he waved and called out to me, "Hey, Abby!" smiling happily at me.

"Hey, Will!" I called back. I picked up my pace, nearly jogging to eliminate the distance between us.

"So you're travelling with one of the Gemma Knights, huh?" he asked excitedly. "That's totally awesome! Is he here yet?"

I laughed at his enthusiasm, shaking my head.

"No, I don't think so," I said. "But he should be here in a bit."

The three Gemma Nights were warriors who had fought against the Vandole Empire Mana only knows how many years ago, and they were the ones who had restored peace to the world when times were hard. They were still well-known, but were no longer warriors.

Or, at least, that's what the stories say.

And rumour has it that Sir Bogard—who I was travelling with—used to be one of the Gemma Knights.

Willy's smile suddenly faded from his lips, and his face turned serious.

"I'm really gonna miss you, Abs," he said softly.

"I'm gonna miss you, too, Will." I watched his face. Trying to memorize it so that I won't ever forget. But his expression was so sad . . . it wasn't how I wanted to remember him.

"Hey, we'll see each other again, won't we?" I asked, smiling at him. Slowly, a small smile rose at the edges of his lips and he pulled me into a big, soft, comfortable bear hug.

"Just take care of yourself, alright?"

"I will. I promise." I pulled away from him, and he reluctantly let me go. I held both his hands in mine, my face completely serious as I met his dark eyes.

"Take care of my mother for me, will you?"

He pursed his lips as he thought, then said, "I'll make you a deal, okay? You come back home safely, and I'll take care of everyone for you."

That wasn't what I wanted. It just wasn't enough. I was not going to leave my beloved village, not sure if I'm going to see everyone ever again.

"No, you have to _promise_ me," I insisted, putting my hands on both sides of his face and staring sharply into his eyes, making sure that I got his full attention. "Take care of my family."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of them." He placed his hands on top of mine, holding them to his face. "I promise," he added in a low, sincere whisper.

I nodded. That was what I needed to hear. And I knew he would keep his promise; my Willy would never break a promise to me.

"Goodbye," I whispered, a brand new flow of tears blurring my vision.

I sniffed and let my hands slide out from under his. His hands dropped to his sides when mine were no longer there, and he didn't move as I walked around him, wiping away more tears with the back of my hand.

"Abby," Willy called before I could get very far.

I quickly spun around to look at him. He wasn't facing me. "Yes?"

He hesitated for a fraction of a second, and then he turned around slowly to look at me.

"I know it's not much, but . . . I want you to have this." He took one unsure step toward me, pulling something from the pocket of his sweater and reaching for one of my hands.

I held out my hand for him, watching curiously as he clipped a silvery-gold chain around my wrist. He watched me nervously as I brought my wrist back to look at the bracelet he had placed there, and opened my mouth to say something when I saw it—but the words got stuck in my throat as soon as I studied it more closely.

"It's a little something to remind you that you _have _to come home, so that you won't forget or something."

It was a silver charm bracelet, with two small heart charms on either side of the chain, opposite each other. One of the hearts was a locket, which, when I opened it, held a miniature picture of me and Willy in it. The other was a plain, silver charm, with the words 'Always in my Heart' written across it. The chain sparkled in the sun, reminding me of the beautiful stars in the night sky.

Willy fidgeted nervously when I didn't say anything for too long.

"My mom helped me make it," he said. "My dad convinced the blacksmiths to give us a discount if he made the charms for us. It's from all of us." He wasn't looking at me; instead, he was watching his feet as he kicked some dirt with his shoe.

"Will, I . . . I really have no idea what to say," I managed to choke out.

"You don't have to say anything," he said, hesitantly glancing up at me through his eyelashes. "I just want you to know that, no matter how far apart we are, no matter for how long, we'll always find each other again."

I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Thank you," I whispered. "For everything."

"Hey, no problem!" Willy said, back to his old cheerful self again. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Goodbye," I said, letting him go.

He touched the side of my neck and grinned. "Just come back, okay?" he said.

I nodded, not trusting my voice, and turned around again and walked away.

Walking away from him left some sort of empty feeling in my heart. My imagination, of course, but I couldn't help but to feel this way as I turned my back on my family, my friends—my home—to meet Sir Bogard at the entrance to the Mana Clan near the Cathedral.

I headed there now, absently waving or smiling at the people who greeted me on the way.

I was getting second thoughts about this, about my dream. I was leaving everyone behind. What if I came back and some of my friends weren't here anymore? What if the people I knew won't be here when I came back? What if my mother . . . But I wasn't going to think about that.

I was grateful when someone pulled me away from my horrible thoughts.

"So you're really leaving today, huh?" the mayor, Kaseem, asked me, suddenly walking right next to me.

I looked around and saw that I was now only a few yards away from the Cathedral, and that Kaseem had fallen in step beside me while I hadn't been paying attention.

"Yes," I told him. "If I don't leave now, I don't think I ever will."

"Bogard, the swordsman who will be accompanying you, is scheduled to arrive soon. He is quite an interesting man, so you won't get bored," Kaseem said.

"Does Sir Bogard travel a lot?"

"Yes, he travels the globe all the time. He's got very important business all over the world."

"It sure would be great to have such an experienced travel companion," I said, smiling—and this time, it was almost genuine.

Kaseem and I started discussing minor details about my trip. I knew this was my decision, my choice to travel, but I was the only one who had a dream big enough to accomplish. No one wanted to leave this beautiful, peaceful village where everyone knew each other, so we didn't get much info on the outside world—especially since our village wasn't supposed to exist.

I had to get outside news for the villagers while I was travelling, and, when I one day might return, I had to fill everyone else in. A war could have broken out and we wouldn't have noticed. It was like being in our own little sphere of happiness, a little bubble of peace—no one even knowing that we existed. Not only was this my dream, but it was my job as a travelling member of the Mana Clan.

Kaseem and I started talking about the places I'd see, people I might meet, and the adventures I might go on. Talking to him about these things made me a tiny bit more excited about leaving, but I couldn't help but notice this strange feeling I was getting. I couldn't shake off the feeling of emptiness, the feeling that I might not see my friends ever again.

I tried to ignore it, though—I thought that it was maybe just the side-effects of leaving my home.

But my body had other plans.

When a villager came running from the northern forest—the forest that was supposed to protect us—a forest that you could get lost in unless you've gone through it before, and from the inside out—a forest that only the people of the Mana Clan can travel through—when a villager boy I've known my whole life came running, panic stricken, my body tensed up. It could have been one of the monsters from the forest—one of the particularly strong ones—that he was escaping from—but I knew by the twist of my gut that something bad was about to happen.

Thinking back now, I realized that I could have saved them. I'd gotten this terrible feeling weeks before, when I'd first found out that I'd finally be living my dream. Every day, the feeling grew stronger, more accurate. I didn't know that my gut was warning me before, but in those few seconds, when I saw another one of my childhood friends running from the forest—I knew. I knew it wasn't good, and I could have told them to run, and never look back. I could've given them a few second's notice.

But I didn't.

"Kaseem!" the boy gasped. He was panting, trying to talk through clipped breaths. "The forest—the forest is being—destroyed. A man—a soldier, I think—he's leading an army toward us. I don't know—how they found us—I just saw them coming—and—and I came running."

The expression on Kaseem's face frightened me, as if we'd already lost. It looked so frightened and resigned, as if we'd just lost a huge battle, instead of just starting one.

"How?" he whispered in a voice so devastated, I almost fell to my knees.

"I don't know, Sir," the boy replied, now suddenly formal, and that frightened me even more. He didn't spare even one glance at me.

"Inform the villagers," Kaseem said, voice clipped, chocked. "Get every man in the village that can fight. Tell the women and children to escape through the eastern forest."

"Right away, Sir," the boy panted and ran deeper into the village.

Kaseem turned to me. "You don't have time to wait for Bogard. Find your mother and _run_." He pushed me in the direction of my house.

He was too late. I could already hear them. Their footsteps crashing on the mud trail that leads the last few miles to our village; metal clanking against each other. I could hear that there were a lot of them—too many.

"Kaseem," I said in a low voice, "I can't—" _leave without you_.

My sentence was cut short by a booming voice echoing through the narrow lane of the outskirts of town.

"Well, well, well," the voice said. "If it isn't my old friend, Kaseem."

They were coming closer, and I could see their leader now. I couldn't see his face; it was covered by a dark, creepy mask. The only feature visible was his mouth, which was screwed into a smug smirk.

"Stroud," Kaseem hissed through his teeth. "You lost the quality of being my friend years ago. You don't belong here!"

I gasped. Kaseem knew this man?

"Come, now. What's a little time and a few misguided quarrels between old friends, hmm?"

"Get away from here, Stroud! You have no business here!"

"It's Dark Lord, now, actually. I abandoned that infernal name years ago."

"Dark Lord or not, you are still not welcome here."

The man who called himself Dark Lord tsked, and another man with flaming red hair and burning scarlet eyes came forth from behind him and looked around curiously.

"So . . . this is the village that keeps the power of the Mana Sanctuary to themselves," the man with the red hair said. "Fascinating."

Kaseem redirected his attention to the mysterious man.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

This time, it was Dark Lord who spoke up.

"Battles rage everywhere, but you seem to have a peaceful town here, my friend. Even though other people are suffering, _you_ seem to be living here peacefully, enjoying yourselves."

"I don't understand," Kaseem said, his voice rising a few octaves higher.

The man next to Dark Lord rested his scarlet eyes on Kaseem in one long, frightening glare, and, when he spoke, his voice was so cold, that the fine hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

"While the rest of the world suffers and buildings perish, you steal all of the Mana power and use it for yourselves, while others need it."

_While the rest of the world suffers_. Those words stuck with me as I took the conversation in. _Buildings perish_ . . . Did he mean a . . . war?

"That is complete nonsense!" Kaseem yelled in response to what the man had said. "Mana power flows through the earth freely as it wishes—it is those who use it with the wrong intentions that are—"

"Silence, heritic!" the man with the red hair ordered, and I was surprised to see Kaseem obey. "No one preaches at Dark Lord!" The man's eyes flashed a deeper red.

"Now, now," Dark Lord said calmly, extending one of his hands. "If you'll just hand over the key, we won't have to hurt anyone."

The key. The key to Mana Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary couldn't be entered without the key, and the key couldn't be found unless someone could enter the Mana Clan. I had never seen the key myself—it was hidden from all but one person: The chosen protector. Not even the villagers knew what it was or what it looked like—or even who had it. It was worked out this way so that, if it were to happen that someone could get through the forest around Mana Sanctuary—like now—that they would never find the key.

"Never!" Kaseem hissed at Dark Lord.

"What a pity," Dark Lord said, shaking his head sadly. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to kill you, Kaseem. Well, then. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And these certainly are desperate times."

Dark Lord's voice then rose, so he could speak to the soldiers behind him. "Get them! Arrest the heretics! Kill whoever tries to escape!"

The soldiers charged right into the village and, within a matter of seconds, people were crying in pain and yelling for help.

I gasped in horror when Dark Lord grabbed Kaseem by the collar of his shirt and threw him against a wall.

"I'm giving you this one last chance," he warned, towering over Kaseem. "Hand over the key and we'll leave this pathetic village. If not . . . well, it could be a shame to lose such a good friend."

"Go ahead. Kill me. Burn down the forest and take every unfortunate soul to prison in this wretched village. Even then, you'll never find the key!"

"Oh? Is that a threat, dear friend? Well, you wouldn't want your precious townspeople to die in vain, then, now would you?"

"If it means doing my duty to the Goddess and fulfilling my vows, then so be it!"

"Pity," Dark Lord said again. "Your devotion to the Goddess is touching, really." And then he raised both of his hands over his head and said something too low for me to hear.

"Kaseem!" I cried and ran toward him. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew that I had to do something.

Just as I was about to reach him and distract Dark Lord from whatever he was doing, a hand gripped my upper arm. The fingers connected to the hand gripped so tightly that it made me scream in pain, and long, sharp claws for nails dug into my skin.

I looked up, straight into scarlet red eyes, smirking down at me.

"Wouldn't want to do anything stupid, now would we?" he said, tightening his grip on my upper arm.

I screamed in pain and tried to pry my arm out from under his grip.

"Get your filthy hands off me, you freak!" I screamed.

"Abby!" a familiar voice yelled, making me glance back to see Willy running toward me. As I'd glanced back, I could see that everyone had come out to see what was going on, and they were all screaming, trying to get away from the soldiers. I also saw a soldier behind Willy, catching up close behind him.

"Willy, watch out!"

Willy glanced back and dodged the attack the soldier had directed at him. He then pulled out a dagger that I hadn't noticed before out of his belt.

"Get out of my town, you son of a bitch!" he cried and threw the dagger right into the soldier's heart.

I gasped when the soldier fell limply to the floor, bleeding and unmoving.

I had never seen Will fight before, let alone kill someone.

He pulled his dagger out of the soldier's flesh and ran straight towards me.

I tried again to free myself, but that only made the man tighten his grip on me and grab my other arm. I knew it was a wasted effort. I turned my head back to look at Willy.

"Willy, no! Get out of here!" I yelled at him as he ran past all of the soldiers who were now busy dragging screaming people to the northern end of the village to imprison them.

He ignored me and fought off a few of the soldiers who tried to capture him, then continued running towards me.

Willy grabbed the man's arm that was still holding me with an unbreakable vice grip and pulled out his dagger again.

"Let her go or I swear I'll kill you," Willy said, holding his dagger to the man's throat.

"Willy," I gasped in a whisper.

"Pathetic mortal," the man snickered. He freed one of his hands and punched Willy in the stomach. It didn't seem like it was with all that much force, but it sent Will flying right into one of the walls of the Cathedral.

"Willy!" I screamed, and then I turned toward the man who was still gripping my upper arm. I wasn't a fighter, but I couldn't stand watching as my whole village was being invaded and destroyed, and then watch them hurt my best friend, too.

"You monster!" I shrieked and pulled my free arm back and punched him in the face. It didn't hurt him much, but it distracted him enough to pull my arm free.

My arm ached as the blood ran back through my veins, but I gritted my teeth against it and ran towards the spot where Willy was lying on the floor.

"Why, you little snip!" the man growled when he recovered from the shock that I had actually fought back. He started to say something, chanting words in some language I couldn't understand.

"Julius, no!" Dark Lord ordered the man. I looked up to see Dark Lord next to the man he called Julius again. I glanced around quickly, but I couldn't see Kaseem anywhere. "The girl could be useful. And that boy is a good fighter. I want them both alive!"

The man named Julius stopped what he was doing and bared his teeth like an angry wolf ready to attack. Then he walked walk straight to us.

"Abby, go!" Will whispered. I looked down to see his eyes open, staring fiercely at me. "Get out of here. Save yourself!"

"I can't leave without you!" I told him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but then his eyes moved to something behind me. I didn't look to see what.

"Elise!" Willy yelled as loud as his pain could allow. I had to look back then.

When I looked back, I saw my mom running toward us, and I only needed to look a fraction of a centimetre to the left to see Julius doing the same, with a sickeningly victorious smirk on his face. Elise yelled something I couldn't understand, and a blast of white hit Julius, making him stumble and fall to the ground.

"Mom?" I gasped, just as she reached us. "What was that?"

"We have to go," she said, ignoring my question. "He won't stay down for long. We only have a few seconds." She tried to pull me up with Willy, but he just slumped back to the ground whimpering. Mom shot him a panicked look.

"Elise, take her and run. I'll be fine. Just get Abby the hell away from here!"

Elise's eyes still looked frightened and worried, but she grabbed my arms and pulled me away from Willy without hesitation. "Come on, Abby," she said.

"No!" I yelled as she pulled me toward the southern forest. "Willy!"

I turned my head to look at Elise as she proceeded to drag me through the fighting and crying. "Mom, what's happening? How did you do that—that with the light?" I was familiar with magic; they had taught us about it in school. But they had also told us that all of the mages in the Mana Clan had died, and their blood no longer runs through our veins, so we could no longer do any magic—especially not white magic.

"There's no time to explain," Elise said. Her hand slid down my arm and held mine tightly, pulling me with her. "I have to get you out of here. Sir Bogard is waiting in the outskirts, and we have to get you to safety."

"Sir Bogard is here? I don't understand. What about Willy? We can't just leave him there!"

"We can't afford to let you die, Abby." Elise looked down at me. "You're our only hope. If something happens to you, we might not get another chance."

"What are you talking about, Mom? How can I be your only hope if I can't even go back to save my best friend?"

Elise looked back at the forest we were now running through, avoiding my eyes.

"I can't explain now," she said. "We have to get you out of here, first."

I didn't say anything as we ran further through the forest. It was dark and frightening—not the same as the northern forest, which was a cheerful, colourful place where everything looked like it was a nice, pleasant day.

This was the opposite.

The loud silence almost screamed exactly how I felt: _anger_—directed at the man who was destroying my home; _sadness_—because I was leaving my best friend—not to mention all of my other friends—in the destruction of my village; _resentment_—directed at myself, because I couldn't do anything to protect them; _hate_—toward that man, Julius, who had hurt my Willy in the first place; and, most of all, _guilt_—because I was running to protect myself.

I glanced back only once as we ran through the forest. I couldn't see the village anymore, but I could see a thick cloud of smoke coming up from the place where the town it was supposed to be.

A tear escaped my eyes. I was leaving everything behind with the thought that I could come back. That alone was hard.

But to leave my town in ashes? That is unbearable. I could feel the aching pain in my heart already. Everything was happening so fast—it was almost unreal.

I skidded to a stop as if I had run into an invisible wall when Elise tripped over a vine of one of the trees sticking out of the ground.

"Aaah!" she gasped in surprise.

I knew she was keeping secrets from me, but I couldn't leave her to die, too.

"Mother, get up!" I pulled her arm to help her up, and, just when she managed to get to her feet again, she stumbled and fell back down to the ground.

She looked at me with an expression so devastated, that, for a few blissful seconds, I forgot all about my questions.

"Abby, it's no use! Just go! Sir Bogard is at the end of the trail—he'll help you!"

"No, Mom! I can't leave you, too!"

"Just keep running!"

I was about to say no again and try to help her to her feet—even carry her if I had to—when a booming voice made the blood drain from my face and my heart beat in double time in fear.

"Ha! I told you no one will escape," Julius said with a sneer as he appeared behind us.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked softly, my devastation showing in my voice, and Julius came to a stop. "Why are you attacking the Mana Clan?" I cried.

I let myself hope that Julius was starting to regret what he was doing when he threw his head back and howled with laughter.

"Why am I doing this, you say? Why? Because it's what you deserve, that's why!" Julius's voice rose, and he lifted his arms over his head. The trees around him started to wither and bow with weakness. It seemed to get darker and sadder, and it was making me crazy.

"What are you doing?" I screamed. "Stop it!"

"You heretics think you can hoard Mana power all by yourself. You don't deserve it! I am going to rid the world of petty humans like you, and I'll create a brand new world—and I won't fail this time!"

The air around Julius was pulsing darkness, almost like it was surrounding him with an aura, while the trees seemed to wrinkle and wither to the ground. It took me a few seconds to jump to the conclusion that he was he was absorbing the life out of the trees.

"Hoard?" I asked, wishing he would stop, wishing the trees would get their life back . . . wishing I could wake up and find that I was only dreaming . . . "Mana power flows in abundance everywhere. It pulses life into everyone, gives life to everyone, it—"

"Don't waste your rebuttals on me! Dark Lord had already passed judgement. He had already fallen right into my trap, and eliminating your village is now the will of all of Granz Realm!"

"How could you?" I whispered, my eyes filling with tears.

"Don't listen to him, Abby!" Elise yelled. "You run while I try to hold him off!"

Then Elise did something I had never seen before. She closed her eyes in concentration and then pulled a long string of light seemingly out of nowhere. It grew bigger and brighter, so much that I had to shield my eyes from the brightness of it. Then she hurled it at Julius, making him cry out on pain. As he was thrown back, the aura around him disappeared and the trees lifted and came back to life again within a matter of seconds.

With a cry of pain, Julius crashed into one of the trees with enough force to snap it in half.

His face was twisted in pain when he looked up at us, trying to move but only flinching and falling back to the ground. With a frustrated growl that wasn't at all affected by his pain, he yelled, "You will regret this!" There was so much anger and hate in his voice that I stumbled back a few steps.

My gaze went to Elise, who was panting, as if what she had just done had taken a lot of energy out of her.

"Mother . . . How—how did you—?" I began, but she cut me off.

"There is no time to explain right now. Run. Run as far as you can from this place, and never look back. Never think about this place ever again, never return. Do you understand?"

"But, Mother, I can't leave without—"

"Go!" Elise yelled, cutting me off again. Then a look came across her face that was so sad, I almost dropped to my knees to try and comfort her. Then, in a voice that mirrored her sadness, she said, "Go and . . . go find . . ." She swallowed, and then said in a rush, "Go find . . . Go find your real mother!" Her voice got stranger near the end, and her eyes were filled with determination, and only slightly tinged with fear.

I couldn't move. I couldn't think. Even more so than before, I wished I could wake up and let this horrible nightmare end. Almost unable to speak, I forced the words through my raw throat and out of my mouth—though they were so soft, I was surprised that Elise could actually hear them.

"What did you say?" I whispered.

Elise just stared back at me, tears gathering in her eyes. Before she could say anything, a male voice came from behind me, the deepness of it making me cringe.

"Elise! I saw the smoke, so I came running. What—?"

"Bogard! Take Abby and run! There's no time to explain!"

Suddenly, it seemed like my voice was back again. "But, Mom!"

Elise looked at me. "Listen to me, Abby," she said in a low voice. "I didn't want to tell you like this, but this might be my only chance. I'm not you real mother. When you were a little baby, a man came to me and said that I had to take you. He said that he'd come back for you when you were ready. I swore that I'd do everything in my power to protect you, and to take care of you. I'm keeping my promise. Find him, and find your real mother."

A strange look came into Elise's eyes when she said, "Take care of her Bogard. Swear to me that you'll protect her with your life."

I glanced back for the first time at Bogard. He nodded at my mother, and the same strange look came to his face when he said, "I give you my oath. She's in good hands, Elise. I swear that I'll protect her with my life."

This seemed like the words she wanted to hear, because the tears dried out of her eyes and she nodded. Her body relaxed, as if she accepted whatever would happen to her now.

Bogard grabbed my arm and held me firmly, yet gently. He started to tug me along with him, but I ripped my arm out of his grasp.

"No!" I screamed, tears rolling down my eyes again. "I'm already leaving everything behind! I won't leave Mom!"

"Go, Abby," Elise said in a calm and loving voice—the voice she used to use when I had scraped my knee when I was younger—the voice she used when I'd had nightmares and she would hold me till I fell back asleep. "Go with Bogard. He will protect you."

It was only then that I saw Julius behind her, back on his feet. His scarlet eyes were burning with hatred, and he was walking silently toward Elise.

"Mom!" I screeched, but she didn't look behind her, didn't face the oncoming danger. She only closed her eyes as Bogard tenderly wrapped his fingers around my upper arm, as if we were old friends just walking down the road, hand in hand. Elise whispered something I couldn't hear, and a silver aura began to form around her, and then seemed to stretch out to surround me and Bogard.

My eyes widened when I saw that Julius was now behind her, silently lifting something over his head. It looked like some kind of a sword, made out of darkness. Just when I realized what he was doing, my vision started to blur around the edges and everything went black.

As I slipped into unconsciousness, I could hear the words _I love you_, soft as the whisper of the wind, float gently into my brain and settle into the darkest pit of my mind, where foul memories would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Hours, days—or maybe even weeks—later, I woke up in a strange place. Forgetting everything for the moment, I closed my eyes again and groggily rolled to my side, groaning when I felt a sharp pain in my arm, as if I had somehow gotten a bruise there. I tried to remember, thinking that I might have been playing with Willy near the rivers on the hidden part of town and had slipped on that one stubborn rock that always seemed to be slippery, even though the water only touched it when a storm from the other side of the forest made the water go all wild and made the river flow a lot faster.

I sighed, eyes still closed. How many times had Elise told me to stay away from there? And I just wouldn't . . .

The thought of Elise made my sigh catch on a sob and everything came back to me.

I snapped my eyes open and jerked upright so quickly that it made my head spin for a few seconds.

"Are you awake, sweetheart?" a soft voice whispered to my left.

My head snapped in the direction of the voice in time to see a woman in her early thirties, I guessed, placing a thick book on a coffee table and getting up from a couch and heading toward me.

I flinched away from her, pressing myself hard against the wall on my right, trying to put as much distance between the woman and me as possible.

"Stay away from me!" I cried out when she didn't react to my edginess. I could hear my voice shaking when I spoke.

The woman didn't stop. She sat at the edge of the bed and reached one hand out to me. I cringed away from her.

"It's okay, dear," she said softly, smiling gently but sadly at me. "You don't have to be afraid. You're safe here." She reached out her hand again and touched my forehead; I didn't flinch back this time, but I didn't relax, either.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." I couldn't speak above a whisper.

Yes, I was fine. I was, and everyone else I knew was . . . not.

"You've been asleep for a long time—almost two days. It was very dangerous for you to Warp. There are consequences for people who go for their first time without being prepared."

I couldn't understand what she was saying. I could hear her words, but my mind couldn't decipher their meanings. There was only one thing I could understand.

"My mother . . ." My voice still came out in a whisper.

"Yes, Bogard told me. He said your village was under attack . . ." Her voice trailed off and her eyes met mine. I was surprised by the amount of sympathy in them. "I'm so sorry, sweetie."

"Wh-who are you?" I stuttered.

"My name is Carolina. You can call me Lina if you want. I'm a good friend of Sir Bogard, and I'm the wife of the Council. I promise I won't hurt you."

My voice got stronger, and I was able to speak just over a whisper when I said, "I have to go home. I have to go help my mother and Willy!"

"Abby, I can't even begin to imagine how you must feel, and I know this is hard to believe, but . . . Your village, it's . . . It's not there anymore." Lina looked down, and her voice shook. "I'm sorry."

I was shaking my head back and forth she before she was even finished with her sentence.

"It can't be. It can't be!" I screamed. "It can't be true! You're all lying! I want to go home. Mom must be worried." I threw myself off the bed before Lina could say anything. I was still dressed in the clothes from before. I headed stiffly for the door that must have been the way out; it was the only one in the room.

Lina didn't move, and I was about to rip the door out of my way when her soft voice stopped me as if I had walked right into a wall.

"I'm sorry. I only wish I could bring back your home for you. I wish I could do something to bring back your beloved village, but I can't. There is nothing I can do but weep with you."

I turned around slowly. She wasn't looking at me, and neither of us said anything for a few seconds.

"It's true, then?" I finally whispered. "The village . . . nothing's left?"

"I don't know what really happened, but I know that Bogard wouldn't lie. If it was indeed Dark Lord who attacked the Mana Clan as he said, then I suppose . . ." Her voice trailed off.

"So Mother, Kaseem . . . Willy . . . the rest of the villagers . . . They're all gone?"

"I can't say for sure. They could've escaped. Or maybe they're just being held captive."

I nodded, knowing that she was only trying to make me feel better. No one else could have escaped. Not without . . .

This train of thought made me remember that weird spell Mom had used, and my head snapped up abruptly.

"What _was_ that?" My voice sounded hoarse, and I tried to clear my throat. "What my mother did? I thought people in the Mana Clan couldn't use magic. And how do you know of the Mana Clan?"

"There are a lot of things you don't know, Abby. Your mother . . . she was chosen to protect the key to Mana Sanctuary. Not many know about it, and not many know that the Mana Clan is real. Both were supposed to be a secret. I don't know how Dark Lord knows about it. Your mother was given permission to use magic so that she could protect the key—and you. She was sworn to secrecy. That's why she never told you—or anybody, for that matter."

I slowly walked over to the bed again, taking all of this in.

So Mother was keeping things from me. To protect me? Because she was keeping her promise? Or was she trying to find the right way to tell? I couldn't know. I would never know.

She was the keeper of the key. I would have never suspected that it was her. And what about the magic? Was it just her, or could others use it, too? Was it some sort of sacred secret that was lost between the members of the Mana Clan, only revealed to some, or was it just a secret, period?

How many things did I not know? How big of a lie had I been living? What else had my mother been keeping from me?

I suddenly remembered when she'd said that I had to search for my real mother . . .

I couldn't take it anymore. I changed the subject.

"Where is Sir Bogard?" I asked quietly. "Is he still here?"

"Yes," Lina said, meeting my eyes. "He's talking to my husband, Council Herman." Then she suddenly stood up. "You should get some sleep, dear. I'll wake you up later to get something to eat. You've been though a lot today."

"Thank you," I said, and let her pull the covers over my shoulders as I lay back against the pillows.

Lina smiled and patted my cheek. Then she headed to the couch again and picked up the book she had been reading.

I rested my head against the soft pillow and closed my eyes. Tears flowed silently down my face as I drifted off into a deep, uncomfortable sleep.

"Abby! Abby, wake up!" I heard the voice yelling my name. I recognised Lina's voice. "Abby, you must run—right _now_!"

I groaned. I was so tired. My cheeks were damp from the tears that had silently slid down from my eyes, probably while I had been sleeping. It felt as if I had only slept for five minutes, but, when I forced my eyes open, I could see dim a light coming in through a small window. It was probably either very early in the morning or late in the evening. I couldn't tell.

I tried to open my eyes wider, and I saw Lina at my side, urgently shaking my shoulder with forced gentleness.

"What's . . . going . . . on?" I mumbled, only half awake.

I was jolted all the way awake when I heard a pounding on the door on the room and the voice that followed. I would never forget that voice.

"Open this door _right now_!" the voice of none other than Julius growled.

I shot a frightened look at Lina. She pulled me to my feet and said, "There's no time to explain."

_There's no time to explain_. The same words my mother had used.

She didn't stay to help me to keep my balance; instead, she turned toward a boy that was standing a few steps behind her. He looked about the same age as me.

"Kevin, listen to me, honey," she said in a low, serious voice. "I want you to take care of this girl. Do you hear me?"

_Take care of yourself_. I shook the haunting voice of Willy in my mind.

"Mom, I don't understand. What's happening?" the boy asked. He sounded as terrified as I felt.

_Mom, what's happening?_ My own terrified voice.

"Baby, I can't explain right now. Don't ask any questions. Guard her with your life. Do you understand me?"

_She's in good hands._ Bogard.

The boy glanced at me with a questioning look on his face. In that second, something seemed to happen inside of him. Seeming to push his confusion away for a minute, it was replaced by a determination so strong, it took my breath away.

"Yes, Mom, I understand," he said seriously, but I could see that his eyes were filling with tears.

"Kevin, you're a big boy now. I trust you." Without looking at me, Lina reached out and pulled me closer to her. She kissed the boy's forehead. "I'll catch up with you later. I promise, you'll see me again."

Tears welled up in my eyes and I looked away from Lina's 'temporary' goodbye. It reminded me of me and my mother's farewell back in the Mana Clan—back before everything was taken away from me.

For a fierce, red-hot second, I wish that the boy—Kevin, I think his mother had called him—wouldn't see his mother again. For one terrifying second, I wished the most cruellest and selfish of wishes. I hoped that Julius would burst through the door and take her away, as well as his father—Council Hermann, if I remember correctly.

For a second, I wished that he would feel the same pain—the same loss—that I was feeling. The same emptiness.

It was gone a second later, though, when a fist pounded on the door again, and another voice started yelling threats.

Lina turned so that she could include me, too.

"Now, go," she said. "Remember, Kevin: Take care of her."

"I promise I'll protect her, Mother."

Kevin turned to me and grabbed my hand. "Come on. We can go out the back door." He pulled me toward the back of the room and opened a door that was completely camouflaged into the wall.

"Don't worry about your father and me!" Lina called after us as Kevin pulled me into a dark passage. "We'll catch up soon!"

Her voice sounded a little choked, and I could have sworn that I could hear her whisper _Goodbye_, and start to sob softly.

A tear slid down my cheek as we ran through the passage, and I regretted hoping that he would lose everything, just like I had—because now he was really going to. He was going to lose everything because I was there, because they were looking for me—because I provoked the devil by escaping his clutches.

We came to a stop in front of a door and Kevin let go of my hand. He quickly dug in his pocket and pulled out a key. He unlocked the door and yanked it open, and then we were running through a dark forest as fast as our legs would allow. Kevin was clutching my hand hard, so when he suddenly tripped over something, he pulled me down with him.

A low cry of pain escaped his lips as we hit the ground. I wasn't hurt badly, so I got to my feet and tried to pull him up. He balanced himself on one foot, but, just as he was preparing to run, he stumbled back down to the ground.

"C'mon, get up! We have to be close to a town by now!" I pleaded, trying to help him.

Kevin got up to his feet again, but whimpered when he stepped on his left foot.

"I can't!" he said. "I think I twisted my ankle." He sank to the floor against a tree. "You go on without me."

"_I can't leave you, too!"_

"_Just keep running!"_

"No, I can't leave you here! They'll find you!"

"Mom told me to protect you. I swore I'd take care of you, so _run_! My parents and I will catch up with you! Just go!"

_It's no use! Just go! Sir Bogard will help you!_

I shook my head stubbornly.

"Listen to me," he began seriously, "we will meet you at the next town over. Bogard said we should find him there. Keep heading west. You'll find a town somewhere close to a lake. Be careful."

I hesitated for a few seconds, and then nodded. I started to run in the direction he had pointed me in.

As I ran, the echo of a dark, deep chuckle filled my ears, getting louder. Behind my tear-filled eyes, I could see blood red irises and a sinister smirk.

_Remember what I had said about being able to save everyone if I had said something? Well, I didn't. And all of this happened because of me._

...

A/N: Whew, that was the longest prologue ever. I hope I didn't bore you guys to death.

I realize that, since there aren't many stories on Sword of Mana, there probably aren't gonna be many reviewers, either. But, if you do happen to read this, please review. I'll update chapters anyway, even if I don't get any reviews. If I don't get reviews, though, I'm gonna update when I feel like it, and that'll be near next to never.

If anyone has a problem with any changes, _please tell me_. I _won't_ travel through cyber space and attack you in your sleep, I promise. But if you do tell me, do it now, cause I'm not gonna rewrite everything in the whole entire story later. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

And _no flames_, _please_. They're mean and unhelpful—if you have something to say, then say it, but say it nicely and helpfully.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: The beginning of this chapter sucks, because I needed to use the dialogue straight from the game. There wasn't much I could do to change it, because it contains necessary information.

**Guest: ***blinks*** **Whoa, a review. Well, it's not like I'm complaining :o) Welcome to the novelization of Sword of Mana! Thank you so much for leaving a review; I really appreciate it. I'm not gonna change Willy's personality, per se . . . I guess he's still gonna be same old Willy, just a bit different. The biggest difference is gonna be the way he talks. If you don't like the changes, though, you can tell me what you don't like, and I'll change it back. As for Kevin's POV . . . yeah, you're gonna have to be a bit patient for that one; he makes his first appearance in this chapter, but the next chapter's gonna be in his POV. I really hope you enjoy this chapter :o)

**Disclaimer: **See Prologue for disclaimer.

...

Chapter One

**Abby**

_Five years later . . ._

My eyes flew wide open as I screamed an ear-piercing screech. My breath caught on a sob, and my scream died down as I come more aware of my surroundings. As I gradually regained consciousness, my eyes frantically darted around the room, looking for any oncoming danger, any sign of heretic hunters trying to capture me, any sign of deep red eyes trying to devour me. I didn't find any; only the wooden walls of my room and the muffled sound of the waterfall that could be seen through my bedroom window a few ways away.

No danger. No creepy dark masks. No sinister smirks. Nothing.

I fell back onto my pillows when I knew that I was safe, but I could feel my heart pounding dangerously fast in my chest, making my ribs ache with every beat. My breathing was laboured, and I tried to slow my racing heart.

I was still trying to calm myself down when Bogard stormed into my room.

"Abby, are you alright?" he asked, sounding panicked—which wasn't a normal way for him to sound, as he was always so calm and collected.

"I'm fine," I gasped out in between struggling to breathe right. "Just a bad dream."

Bogard nodded, heaving a huge sigh of relief, the panicked expression disappearing with the retreating breath. He came over to me, where I had slumped back down on my bed, and kneeled beside me.

"Still having nightmares?" he asked softly.

I looked at him, nodding.

"Still the same dream?"

"Yeah," I whispered, nodding again.

Bogard sighed. "No matter what you do or where you go, the memory comes back to haunt you, doesn't it?"

I pressed my lips together and stared up at Bogard as I tried to keep moisture from filling up in my eyes. He knew this expression well; it was the same guilty expression I'd been wearing after every nightmare, every memory. It represented the same intense self-loathing that I felt whenever I get reminded of that night, of that boy, of his parents.

"Abby, you have to understand that you have to move on. Nothing you do now is going to change the past."

"But," I started, still whispering, "it's all because I abandoned him!" Bogard knew exactly who I meant by _him_. We'd had this conversation countless of times before during these past five years. "I left him and his family to die! I could have helped him and I didn't!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Bogard scoffed. "You had to get out. You couldn't fight a losing battle; what use would that be? It wasn't the right place or the right time. There was nothing you could do."

"But—"

Before I could get a word out, Bogard said, "There are some things that you can do by yourself, but there are also things that you can't—and when you can't, you have to let it be. If you don't understand that, then you are no different than Dark Lord."

"What? Me? Like Dark Lord?" I demanded. My voice rose a few octaves higher, the shock of being compared to that _monster_ pushing away any guilt that I might have felt. "I'm nothing like him," I hissed, hatred dripping from my tone. No, I wouldn't kill hundreds of innocent people for no apparent reason. I wouldn't capture and imprison them. I would never hurt people for my own personal gain.

"You need to judge yourself rationally, Abby. Dark Lord strives to change things that are beyond his control, even at the cost of other people's lives. You torment yourself for not being strong enough to save your village, though there was nothing you could have done even if you _were_ stronger."

Almost instantly, the anger seeped right out of me, and I looked down, avoiding his eyes. He was right. Deep down, I knew that there was nothing I could have done, no matter how much I wished otherwise.

"I just want to know what happened to him," I finally murmured quietly. Yes, if I couldn't have saved my home, I at least wanted to save that boy. That boy, who had tried to save me. The one who had known, in a way, that he'd never see his parents again.

"If you think that you could handle the truth, than I suggest that you find out for yourself. Do you remember that kid's name?"

I flinched a little. Bogard had never asked me a direct question from those few days. And thinking back, searching for specific pieces of information like that—it still hurt. I usually blocked out anything too painful to remember, but the knowledge was still there—even though details like people's names were blurry, as we'd never even had a proper meeting in the first place.

But still I squinted, trying hard to recall the boy with the dark blonde hair's name.

"I don't know," I said after a few seconds of thinking. "I think it was Kelvin or something like that. Something with a 'K'. I don't remember."

"Kevin?"

I perked up, smiling despite myself. "Yeah, that's it. _Kevin_. I think his mom called herself Carolina or something close to that."

Bogard's face paled—another unusual thing for Bogard to do, as he was usually completely neutral. "Carolina?"

I nodded, frowning at Bogard's reaction. "Yeah, Lina. She told me to call her Lina," I said, vaguely recalling the woman's kind voice. My frown deepened. "You knew Kevin's mother?"

"Not well. I spoke with her a few times; her husband used to be one of my closest friends."

"Kevin and his mother, Lina—were they the ones from the estate?" I asked, getting a little excited about this new bit of information. Maybe Bogard could help me search for him, maybe he knew where they might be . . .

_If_, a voice in my head said, _he is alive._ I banished that thought.

"Yes," Bogard said. "His parents were . . ." His deep voice trailed off, and I felt my heart drop all the way to my feet.

"Killed?" I finished his sentence for him.

"I'm not sure," Bogard said hesitantly, but truthfully. "I didn't see how it all ended that night."

"Oh." That night. That horrible, fateful night. The one where I fled to save myself, effectively killing everyone who dared to help me. The one where everyone I knew had died.

"Cheer up, Abby. They're probably doing just fine, living a happy, full life right now, away from the war."

I was quiet for a moment, considering, trying to wrap my mind around that possibility. Not likely, but also not completely unlikely. I mean, Bogard and I were staying peacefully out of the war, weren't we?

Or, at least, as peacefully as we could, with foul memories still haunting us.

"Well, then," Bogard said after a while of uncomfortable silence. "Are you ready to go?"

I felt my forehead crumple into a frown. "We're going somewhere?" I asked, climbing out of bed and stretching. I didn't really care that Bogard was seeing me in my PJ's; he was like a father figure to me. I leaned against the headboard of the bed and started nibbling on a sandwich Bogard had probably prepared for me when he'd woken up.

Bogard sat on my bed and watched me levelly, his eyes guarded. "Aren't you sick and tired of being haunted by your past here?" he asked. "Maybe if you went out to find answers, you can finally go on with your life, somewhere where this war does not reach. You might not like what you'll find, but you won't be able to go on with your life unless you face the ghost of your past."

"I guess you're right," I mumbled. I studied the peanut butter and jelly coating that was starting to drip off of the sides of my bread. Trying to avoid Bogard's eyes. "But where would I go? Where do I start?"

"You'll have to decide that for yourself. I will help you, but first there is some business I have to take care of. You will be alright by yourself for a while, right?"

"I think so," I said, squinting. I didn't really know all that much about the world—or even the area, really. I only knew the way from our cottage to the village close by, but that's basically it. My geography was pretty much as low as it used to be before this whole mess had started. I'd probably get lost in the first forest I set foot in.

"You'll be fine if you take a map," Bogard said, seeming to read the distress in my face. As he spoke, he got up and headed over to my closet, then started tearing through it, looking for something. "I might meet you back here, but I don't know how long I would take." Leaning back again, he retrieved two backpacks. He threw one at me, and I caught it. "Start packing. Take only the things you need. It'll be easier if your bag is lighter."

I got up and started packing clothes into my bag, not really caring what I took along. I grabbed the small money pouch that I kept under my mattress and shoved it in with my clothes. There wasn't much in it, but it could prove to be useful later.

Bogard gave me two bottles of water, and a few bread rolls covered in brown paper.

"Pack that in. It's fresh, purified water—it should keep you a few days if we use it cautiously. The bread should last long enough for us to reach the next town."

I nodded, and slid the two cold bottles of water and the bread rolls into my bag.

Bogard gave me some privacy, and I quickly slid on some comfortable clothes; a soft, blue dress that was short enough to be a shirt, and shorts. I put on some boots that covered most of my lower legs, and then I slung my backpack over my shoulder. After brushing my hair, I tied them into a single ponytail, getting them out of my face.

With one final glance around to make sure that I had everything, I started to head for the door, but hesitated.

After barely even a second of thought, I turned back and stumbled over to my bed, lifting one edge of the mattress up.

I knew that I really shouldn't, but I also knew that I couldn't just leave the very few things that reminded me of the good times back home for someone else to find.

So I grabbed the small, silver bracelet Willy had given to me all those years ago, and also the silver pendant Mom had given me before I left for what was supposed to be my dream come true. As an afterthought, I grabbed the staff that was leaning harmlessly against the wall next to my closet and tied it around the decorative belt around my shirt.

And then I turned and headed out of my room, without another backward glance.

"Are you ready?" Bogard asked me when I joined him in the small kitchen of our cottage.

"Yes."

"Let's go, then."

I followed him outside.

The fresh air hit me like a slap in the face. How long has it been since I've tasted fresh air? The waterfall on the left side of the cottage sounded noisier when I was standing outside than it was from the inside, but somehow, it was kind of soothing. The flowers around me were as colourful as the rainbow, and their beautiful smell invaded my nose.

Sheesh, how long _has _it been since I'd been outside? It feels like I hadn't left the cottage in _years_, though it couldn't have been more than a few days . . . or weeks.

I took a deep, slow breath, feeling the fresh air making its detour to my lungs. I could almost taste the dust motes and the sweet aroma of the wild flowers around me. I held my breath for a few seconds, savouring the taste, and then blew it out slowly through my nose.

"Do you need to know how to use magic?" Bogard asked, interrupting my thoughts.

"No, thanks. There's a guy in the village who taught me the basics since the . . . um . . . since we got here. I'm all set."

Ever since that horrible occurrence in my hometown, when my mother had used magic in front of me for the first time, I had been studying magic. The books in Topple were limited, but they were enough to teach me everything I needed to know about anything worth knowing, including magic. The librarian's son often helped teaching me the basics of magic; not enough to defend myself completely, but enough to scare off any small monsters that tried to attack me. He had given me the staff, claiming that it was to help me with my magic because of the stone that was held firmly at the tip of the staff by some material that was apparently called mythril—a material, my teacher had said, that held the essence of the lost spirits of the elements.

With magic aside, Bogard had taught me everything that I couldn't learn in Topple's small supply of books, and, when I wasn't in the mood for studying, he even taught me how to defend myself physically if I happened to get myself into a sticky situation. Again, not enough to make me a master, but enough to scare away small creatures.

I hadn't even known that magic existed before five years ago; the children of my clan had been taught about our ancestors that could use white magic to heal the weak, and black magic to scare off our enemies. But, according to our legends, magic had died out of our blood over time as we didn't use it anymore, and our magic had become weaker and weaker, until they found that it could no longer be used. Knowledge of how to reawaken this magic in our veins had been forgotten over time, and they couldn't teach our traditions mother to daughter, brother to sister, and father to son anymore.

Or, at least, that's what they had told us.

Which, obviously, wasn't the case.

The truth, according to Bogard, is that the Mana Clan was forbidden to use magic within the town after the Vandole Empire, to prevent people from turning against each other for power. Those who knew how to use it were forbidden to teach the children, and the children who had the potential to use magic never learned how.

My mother was one of the very few who were granted permission to use their magic, so that she could protect the key to the Mana Santuary—and, apparently, me. Though, for the latter, I've yet to figure out why she needed magic to do it. Whenever I asked Bogard, he'd just shrug and say, 'Maybe you'll find out someday.'

"Good," Bogard said to my earlier confirmation, distracting me from my distant thoughts. "I still have something to do here. We might need some supplies from Topple, so you can head into town and meet me back here. The blacksmith is a really good friend of mine; he might be able to help you."

"Okay," I tried to say, but before I could get the whole word out, Bogard had already disappeared back into the cottage.

I headed straight for Topple village. It wasn't far—it was actually right around the corner . . . or tree branch. The trail that lead to the village made it easy to find, and it wasn't long before I could see a sign that said: WELCOME TO TOPPLE VILLAGE.

I hesitated just before passing through the border of town. Though it had been a really long time since Bogard and I had moved into the cottage, it was still hard for me to set foot into the village. It still reminded me so much of the Mana Clan . . .

It stung just thinking the name. All of my friends . . . Willy . . . Kaseem . . . Mom . . .

I jerked my thoughts away from that direction and pushed myself forward into the village as a distraction. No need to reopen old wounds.

I headed toward the blacksmiths. The owner of the shop, Chris, recognised me immediately when I entered through the door—not that it was really all that hard to recognise somebody in a small town like this one.

He dropped what he was doing and headed over to me, extending his arms.

"Abby," he sighed as he hugged me. "I don't see you around anymore. How are you?"

I hugged him back for a second before pulling away. He was probably the closest thing I had to a friend in this town, even if he was actually more Bogard's friend than mine.

"I'm good, I suppose," I said. "I guess I just lost track of time, so . . ." I trailed off. It was really a lame excuse; we both knew that that wasn't the reason why I hadn't been into town lately.

But he didn't say anything. And if he wasn't gonna say anything, neither was I.

"So, what can I do for you?"

Honestly, I didn't really know. Bogard had just sent me here—he hadn't exactly told me what I was doing here.

"Well, Sir Bogard and I are leaving. The walls of that cottage are really starting to taunt me—I had to get out of there. Sir Bogard suggested a journey"

Not one hundred percent the truth, but not a lie, either.

Chris chuckled—but I could near a nearly indistinguishable sad undertone in his chuckle. "So you two finally decided to leave the nest, huh? I was wondering when you might get sick of this small ol' town."

I was about to reassure him that it wasn't the town, that it wasn't that it was too small—that I was already used to small towns and that I grew up in one—but I bit my tongue. Nobody really knew where I had come from, as the existence of the Mana Clan was still supposed to be a secret; all they knew was that I had come from a bitter past, a past that left me scarred.

Besides, I actually liked this place. Or would have, that is, if it weren't for the nightmares and the memories.

Instead, I put on a shocked face and peered into Chris's eyes. "You knew we'd leave?"

"I actually thought you'd leave sooner," he said. "No outsider's ever stuck here for long before leaving for the city. You were the ones that stayed the longest."

The word "Oh" slipped out of my mouth. I didn't really know what I was doing here in the first place, and I didn't know what else to say. To be completely honest, I had thought of running away from this place before. I had thought of disappearing without a trace, to see the world as I had always dreamed to, to pretend that I was thirteen again, and only just starting to fulfil my dream . . .

But fear kept me locked firmly into place.

I released a huge puff of air. Now that I was really, actually leaving, now I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

Chris seemed to know otherwise, though.

After heaving a huge sigh, he disappeared through a door at the back of the shop without warning. I heard the sound of stumbling, accompanied by the sound of breakable things falling. I heard Chris curse once, and a few more ruffling noises in the back room.

I frowned and tried to peer through the door that Chris had disappeared through. "Chris?"

No later had I called his name before I heard a muffled "Aha!" and then he came stumbling back toward me with a triumphant smile on his face. I looked at him in confusion.

"Bogard gave me this to keep," he explained, holding up a long, flat object to me. "He told me this day would come, he just didn't say when. He gave me this sword so that I could give it to you."

I blanched. "What? Why couldn't _he_ just give it to me?"

He shrugged. "Dunno." He held out the sheathed sword to me. "Here. Take it."

I shook my head frantically. "No, no, no, no. I can't take that! I don't even know how to use it yet!"

Sure, Bogard had taught me a bit how to fight. But not with a sword!

"Then you're gonna need to learn how to use it some time, else you won't be going anywhere."

He had a point. The woods outside of Topple—the woods that I had never been to before since after I came here—was prowling with monsters. Dangerous ones, at that.

So I reached out hesitantly to take the sword. I held it by its covered blade and pulled it out of its sheath by the hilt.

It was actually a plain sword, really. It had a shimmering silver blade with a hilt that rested in my hand comfortably. I didn't know all that much about weapons, but I just knew that this one would be really easy and comfortable to fight with.

"Use it wisely," Chris said. I nodded and thanked him. It was quite easy to tie the sword to my belt, next to the staff used for my magic. It slid into place easily, and, when I exited the shop after bidding Chris farewell, it swung innocently—with cloaked deadliness—next to me. It wasn't as annoying to have it plastered to my side as it had always looked with Bogard.

So, as I strode though the town that wasn't my home—but had served as my sanctuary for the past few years—with no idea what I should be doing next, I heard a strange sound. There weren't all that many people out today, so it was no surprise that no one else noticed.

I looked around the town that was barely even familiar to me, searching for the source of the sound, until I found it.

It was coming from behind a small shack, in one of the very few places in the village that was obscured by the shadows of a few trees. Under the tree, leaning against the wall of a nearby house, was a little girl, with her knees pulled to her chest and her face pressed to her knees as she sobbed. I frowned at the sight, quickly looking around myself.

No one else seemed aware of the girl, just sitting there, sobbing.

I headed over to her.

She didn't notice me until I knelt down and tentatively touched her shoulder. She jumped at the touch and looked up at me with eyes red from crying, cheeks tear-streaked. She couldn't have been any older than five or six years. I didn't recognise her, though it wasn't much of a surprise to me since I was the only one who wasn't friends with everyone in the town.

"Hey," I said softly. "What's wrong? Are you lost? Do you need you Mommy and Daddy?"

I knew it was silly of me to ask that; it was impossible to get lost in a town as small as this one, even for a little kid. But the girl looked like she really needed some help, and I wasn't going to just leave her alone.

"A-are you an a-adventurer?" she managed through her hiccups. I tried not to be surprised by her question, especially since I was technically not a traveller yet. But then, by the looks of my clothing and my equipment, it probably looked like I was.

"Yes," I said. "Yes, I am." My voice sounded unsure, even to me, but my answer seemed to be enough to perk the girl up just a little.

"C-can you h-help me?" she asked hesitantly, her hiccups were still there, even though her tears had dried up.

"Sure," I said, smiling kindly at her. "How can I help you?"

She smiled back at me, a dazzling smile that revealed a little dimple in both of her cheeks.

"See, I was playing in the forest," she started, "and, while I was playing, a monster roared at me." I almost laughed at her choice of words, but tried to hold it in. No need for me to make her cry again.

She was still explaining to me in her small, child's voice. "I ran away as fast as I could, and it didn't follow me. But-but when I came home, my mommy's bracelet was gone!" Tears welled up in her eyes again, and she was sniffling, making it hard for me to understand. "My daddy is gone somewhere, and I'm too scared to tell my mommy. I tried to go back for it, but I was too scared." She was sobbing again, and I hated seeing such a small girl be so sad at this early age.

Admittedly , it wasn't a very good reason to be crying like this, but she was probably afraid of getting yelled at by her mother.

I sighed. Surely Bogard wouldn't mind me taking a few extra minutes, would he? Besides, I knew first-hand the sentimental value something as small as a bracelet could hold.

"Do you want me to go get it for you?" I asked with another sigh.

Her eyes snapped up to mine. "Will you?" she asked, and, before I could smile and nod, she threw her small arms around me. "Thank you, thank you!"

I was shocked by the sudden contact, but laughed nonetheless, prying her arms from my neck.

"It's alright. Where can I find it?"

She looked at me and frowned, "It's in a meadow—I think that's what my mommy called it—in . . . in . . .," she struggled, looking annoyed with herself. Finally, she pointed behind me. "That way."

I followed her pointing finger. "South-west?" I asked.

Her face lit up again. "Yes! That's it! _South-west_." She said the word as if tasting it on her tongue, her big, green eyes shined up at me. "Can you please bring it to me?"

I couldn't say no to a face like that. I nodded and smiled, heading out of the village and in the direction the girl had pointed me in.

As far as I knew, monsters didn't usually come out all that often in the day. It was still light out—bright and early—but, despite that fact, there was an unusual amount of monsters prowling about between the trees. I tried my best to sneak around them, only using magic when one spotted me, and only awkwardly using the sword Chris had given me when it was absolutely necessary.

I eventually found a place around a bend between the trees, close to a magnificent, shimmering lake that started where the bright green grass ended. It was a small little tropical-looking meadow, surrounded by trees. The grass was quite long—something as small as a bracelet could easily disappear in it.

This had to be the place that girl had been talking about. There were no monsters here now; the one that had attacked her was probably just looking for some water from the lake.

With no better alternative, I bent down and started to looking. It would be next to impossible for me to find something as small as a bracelet between grass and mud and Mana only knows what else, but I could still try. I didn't want to see the girl's disappointed eyes, glassy with tears.

So I did the only thing I _could_ do; I searched for a needle in an endless stack of hay.

I wasn't searching all that long before a deep, booming voice behind me demanded, "Who are you?"

I froze. The voice sparked at my memory, and a shiver of cold fear crept down my spine.

Slowly, I turned around.

The man I saw looked strangely familiar; he was clad in long, thick clothes, despite the stifling heat of the sun, with a long, red cloak slung over his shoulders. His face was pulled into a cruel sneer, and he had blazing red hair. And his eyes . . . crimson, deadly eyes.

I could recognise those eyes anywhere. It was the colour of the monster that lived in my nightmares. It was the colour of my fear.

In a matter of seconds, everything came back to me.

"You!" I gasped, unable to manage anything else.

The man rolled his crimson eyes and held out his hand, a small ball of electric energy seeming to form out of nowhere on the palm of his hand.

"Cone, come, now," he sneered. "My master would like to know your name before I kill you. Now, I don't have all day."

I shook my head, as if it would help shaking my memories away. Without realizing it, I stepped back, closer to the dark trees at the very back of the meadow.

"You're the guy who destroyed my village." It came out as a whisper, but the man cocked his head to the side in curiosity nonetheless, the ball of energy burning out into nothingness in his hand.

"You're going to have to be more specific than that," the man—who I vaguely remembered as Julius—said, smirking. "There has been many."

My hands shook. My whole entire being shook, as he stepped closer to me, closing the distance between us in quick, long strides. I turned my head as far away from him as I could as he neared me. He was getting so close—so close, that I could almost feel his breath on the skin of my neck.

He chuckled darkly. "Oh, now I remember! You're that little snip from the Mana Clan, aren't you?"

I could tell that he was playing with me—the way a cat would play with its food before actually eating it. I knew he could remember it all as clearly as I could.

"Fancy meeting you here, hmm?" His lips were now at my ear, his cold breath making me shake even more with fear. He chuckled. "I didn't think there were any survivors."

A gasp escaped my lips, and my chest tightened with pain.

"You mean . . . they're all . . . Willy, Kaseem, Mother, and all of the other townspeople—they're dead?"

I could feel his mouth tilt up into another dark smirk against my skin.

"Every . . . last . . . one."

That gave me enough strength to shove him away. Somewhere, deep inside me, I had always known that they were gone. But still, a small part of me still hoped, still wished . . .

But now that small lingering piece of hope was crushed.

I knew I was going to die here, right now, so there really was no use in just standing there, waiting for it to happen.

"You killed them all?" I whispered, tears coming to my eyes. Willy . . . Mother . . . No! "You monster!" Hatred dripped from my tone, and I knew that my eyes would be flashing resentment at him.

Julius, however, seemed unaffected—in fact, my hatred and fear—my pain—all of it mixed together seemed to amuse him.

"_Me_?" he asked innocently. "_I_ didn't kill them; the Realm Soldiers did. I just stood by . . . and watched." He smirked.

"It's all the same. You let them all die!"

"Oh, but is it really _our_ fault that wretched village was destroyed? Or was it because your precious Goddess abandoned you?" His crimson eyes shone with amusement. He was enjoying this.

I shook my head, closing my eyes. _Please_, I begged with my mind. _Please, just kill me now. Take the pain away_.

But the killing blow never came.

Instead, I heard a muffled voice call from the path to the meadow, saying, "Master Julius! Dark Lord calls for you!"

Julius growled. By now I had my eyes open, and I watched the figure of my family's murderer ball up his fists in anger. There was no more resistance in me; I didn't care if he killed me now out of frustration. I _welcomed_ it.

Julius looked at me, crimson red eyes flashing dangerously at me. "I will be dealing with _you_ later." He turned to leave, then paused and smirked back at me once more. "Well, that is, if there's going to be a later." He then reached out his arm, calling attention to a small, innocent-looking bunny that looked totally harmless. A sickly green aura surrounded Julius's arm, and started then reaching out between the distance from Julius's fingertips to the bunny. I watched as the poor little thing's eyes turned a horrible shade of dried blood. Its mouth opened in a grimace, revealing long, sharp teeth, and I could see claws growing on its soft, white paws, making them look more deadly than I had ever thought the paws of a rabbit could look.

It turned to me, murder in its eyes.

"So you control the animals now, too?" I asked. I could hear the tears in my voice, and I was too weak to manage enough hatred to strengthen my resolve.

Julius turned without saying anything and left, his cruel, sinister laugh following behind him.

I didn't have anywhere to run. The bunny—which was now turned into a monster, thirsting for my blood—was blocking my only path away from the forest, and the trees behind me were too thick and dark to consider any safer than this.

The resignation was slowly fading from my muscles as rational thought returned to mind again. My eyes darted around the small area, trying to look for a way out of here as my survival instinct—that had been completely absent earlier—kicked in.

There was none.

With next to no other choice, I removed my sword from its sheath. I held it awkwardly, trying to imitate the way I remembered Bogard holding it.

The monster came closer. I closed my eyes.

"Watch out!" a voice suddenly yelled. My eyes flew open in time to see a boy lunging out from between the thick trees behind me, holding a thick, heavy-looking sword out in front of him.

"Were you really planning to attack it with your eyes closed?" the boy asked before jumping at the monster. I opened my mouth to answer, but thought better of it as I watched him scare the monster away.

As soon as he was sure that the monster was gone, he turned to me. "How did you manage to get into a fight with that little critter? Did you trim its tail or something?" he asked, smirking slightly. This smirk wasn't like the cruel one Julius had worn—no, this one was amused.

I opened my mouth again to say something, but the words got stuck in my throat when I met his eyes.

He was tall, and wore clothes that looked tight and uncomfortable. It was covered in tears, and looked incredibly old. His hair was a dark blonde colour, and it was long, just brushing his shoulders. It looked dirty, just like the rest of his face and clothes. His face was tanned, and he had a strong chin with a perfectly straight nose and high cheekbones. His eyes were a deep sapphire blue that looked older and wearier that he seemed to be, like they had seen way too much, way too soon.

His smile, though, was perfectly dazzling as he looked down at me in concern.

And I felt a pang of recognition as I studied those eyes, that smile.

"Are you alright?" he asked, sliding his bloodied sword into the sheath that I hadn't noticed before.

_Bloodied sword_ . . . Was he one of the Realm Soldiers?

"Are you hurt?" he asked again when I didn't answer.

I looked away from him; anywhere but those deep, dazzling blue eyes.

"Oh, um, y-yes," I stuttered. "I-I mean, no. I'm fine."

"What are you doing here all alone?" he asked. "If you can even pick a fight with so much as a bunny rabbit, then I'm sure you don't belong here in the woods all alone."

I ignored his question, looking over his clothes again. His sword caught my eye, and I looked back into his sapphire eyes, trying not to get lost in them.

"You're from Granz Realm, aren't you?" I blurted, and, even as I said it, backed away as far from him as I possibly could.

He just rolled his eyes, though.

"Do I _look_ like I'm from Granz Realm?" he asked.

I quickly gave him a once-over.

Honestly—he didn't, not really. Soldiers from Granz Realm had very different attire, which was always well-kept and clean.

But, as my eyes caught sight of that huge sword strapped to his belt, I looked away from him again.

The boy sighed. "Look, if you need some help, I'll take you where you need to go," he offered.

I put one of my hands on my hip and cocked my hip to the side.

"I don't need your help," I said stubbornly, jutting my chin out and looking him straight in the eyes. Those eyes . . . _so familiar . . . _"I can get back home by myself, thank you very much."

"By the way you're holding that sword of yours, I'd say otherwise," the boy said, looking pointedly at the sword that I had almost forgotten about.

I quickly put it back into its sheath.

"I don't need your help," I insisted, stomping past him, back the way I had come in.

"And what if you get attacked by another monster?" he called after me. I stumbled a bit, but quickly regained my footing.

I snorted, and, without looking back at him, said, "I won't."

He didn't say anything after that for a while, and I just kept on heading back toward the town.

But, before, I could get very far, the boy suddenly cried, "What's that?"

I froze and spun around, instantly afraid.

"What?" I gasped.

But I only turned to find the boy laughing at me.

I frowned at him. So I was shaken by my earlier encounter with the devil. What did he know?

"Fine!" I snapped. "If you could take me back to Topple, I would be very grateful."

His face lit up. "Topple? Great!" he said. I frowned. Why was he getting all excited by Topple? "I was just looking for it myself—we can go there together."

I hesitated.

"You're not . . . from here, are you?" I asked him. He looked away, gazing at the clear, clean water of the lake before looking back at me,

"Not exactly, no."

I nodded. I could see that, despite his cocky attitude just minutes before, this subject made him uncomfortable.

So, instead of asking him to elaborate like I was tempted to, I said, "Alright, then. Topple is north-east from here."

He smiled gratefully, back to the cheerful mood he'd been in earlier. He stretched his hand out toward me.

"My name's Kevin. What's yours?"

My heart probably skipped a beat or two right then. _Kevin? He has the same name as . . . No, it must be a coincidence._

I eyed his outstretched hand for a second before grabbing it.

"I'm Abby," I said, absently marvelling at how warm his hand was. "Nice to meet you."

He smiled another one of those dazzling smiles before releasing my hand. He didn't say anything else, but I could see a clouded look in his eyes as he gazed curiously as me.

"Um . . . North-east?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go, then," he said, ducking his head. I frowned at his weird behaviour, but complied nonetheless.

"Oh! Wait!" I said abruptly, remembering why I was here in the first place. Kevin stopped and looked at me inquiringly.

"A girl from the village asked me a favour," I explained. "She lost her bracelet somewhere, and asked me to come and look for it. Can you help me, please?"

"Yeah," he said, and we both kneeled down to search through the grass.

Finally, Kevin leapt up and said, "Got it," holding one of his hands up in the air. In his other hand, he had his sword clutched firmly, with the grass around him slashed around his feet. Now, why hadn't _I _thought of that?

Looped around his finger was a silver bracelet that sparkled in the sun.

I smiled. "That must be the one. Let's go."

The journey back to the village was a silent one, but by no means awkward. Kevin fought monsters that blocked our path, and I used magic whenever it was needed. We came to the southern entrance of Topple village without so much as a scratch, and the sun was just starting to position itself right overhead.

I turned to Kevin.

"Thanks for taking me this far," I said. He was gazing around the town, with a strange, peaceful look on his face.

"It was no problem. You helped me, too, so . . ." He trailed off.

"So I'll see you around?"

I looked at him carefully, studying his face.

His hair certainly would be longer, shaggier . . . Lighter, maybe. His face, harder . . . But then, my memories of the attack of the Mana Clan were foggy, inaccurate. And I'd been blocking them out of my mind for such a long time . . .

"Yeah," he replied to my earlier statement. He glanced at me—giving me a quizzical, inquiring look—before turning and running off without another word.

I stood there for a few seconds, gazing after him.

If the Kevin from my past had survived all those years ago, he'd probably be around this one's age . . .

I shook my head. _Enough, enough! _ I scolded myself. _No more letting the past control you._

I sighed, knowing that it was useless trying to just let it all go.

With another shake of my head, I headed back to where the girl had been to give her bracelet back to her.

...

A/N: And there you have it :o) I've realised that Abby is a bit mopey the whole time and keeps obsessing over the loss of the Mana Clan. I'm sorry for that detail. I know it's annoying, but it's a little necessary for now. After Vinquette Hall, it's gonna stop, I promise. You'll just have to be a bit patient for another two or three chapters.


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